Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-07-29

u, nA 'nac az on the right hand of God is
| Christ, so on the right hand of Christ ia
faql, the second great in Heaven.
ne changes kings likewise. Before the
hour OF death and up to the last moment
ne was under Nero, the thick necked. the
cruel eyed. the filthy Tipped; the sculptured
features of that man bringing down TO ns
to this very day the horrible possibilities Of
MS nature-seated as he was amidst pic
tnred marbles of Egypt, under a roof
adorned with mother of pearl, in dining
room which by machinery was kept whirl.
ing day and night with most bewitchinp
magnificence; his horses standing in stalls
OF solid gold, and the grounds around his
palace lighted at night by it's victims, who
mad been daubed with tar and pitch and
then u. set ire TO illumine the darkness.
That was Pauls king. But the next mo.
ment ne goes into the realm of Him whose
reign reg, Is love, and whose courts are paved
with love, and whose throne is set on
pillars of love, and whose scepter is
adorned with jewels of love, and whose
Lifetime is an eternity of love. When Paul
was leaving 80 much on this side the pillar
OF martyrdom to gain so much on the other
side, do you wonder at the cheerful VALE
dictory Of the text. 1.-THE time of nv. de-
parture is at hand?"
Now, why cannot all the old people of
this congregation have the same holy glee
as that aged man had? Charles T., when he
was combing his head, found gray hair,
ana ne sent it to the queen as great joke,
but old age is really no Joke at all. For
the last forty years you have been dreading
that which ought to have been IN exhilara-
ton. You say you most fear the struggle
at the moment the soul and body part But
millions have endured that moment. and
why not We as we'll? They got through
with it, and SO can We. Besides this, all
medical men agree in saying that there is
probably no struggle at all at the last mo-
ment-not so much pain as the prick of O
pin, the seeming signs of distress being
altogether involuntary. But you say: ut
is the uncertainty of the future" Now,
child of God, do not play the infdel. After
God has filled the Bible till it can hold no
more with the stories of the good things
ahead, better not talk about uncertainties.
But you say, II cannot bear to think of
parting from friends here" If you are
old you have more friends in Heaven than
here. just take the census. Take some
large sheet of paper and begin to record
the names of those who have emigrated to
the other shore; the companions of your
school days, your early business associates,
the friends of mid life and those who more
recently went away. Can it be that they
have been gone SO long you do not care
any more about them and you do not want
their society? Oh, no! There have been
days when you have felt that you could
their blessed companionship. They have
gone. You say you would not like to bring
them back to this world of trouble, even if
you had the power. 1t would not do to
trust you. God would not give YOU resur-
rection power. Before tomorrow morning
you would be rafting at the gates of the
cemetery, crying to the departed: "Come
back to the cradle where you slept! Come
back to the hall where you used to play!
Come back to the table where you used to
sit" and there would be great burglary
in Heaven. No, no! God will not trust
you with resurrection power, but he COM
promises the matter and says: "You
cannot bring them where you are, but you
can go where they are" They are more
lovely now than ever. We're they were
beautiful here they are more beautiful
there.
Besides that, it is more healthy there
for you than here, aged man; better climate
there than these hot summers and cold
winters and late springs; better hearing;
better eye sight; more tonic in the air;
more perfume in the bloom; more sweet
ness in the song. Do you not feel, aged
man, sometimes, as though YOU would like
to get your arm and foot free? Do you not
feel as thoughyou would like to throw away
spectacles and canes and crutcnes? Would
ity and mirth of an eternal boyhood?
When the point at which you start from
this world is old age, and the point to
which You go is eternal juvenescence, aged
men, clap your hands at the anticipation,
and say, in perfect rapture of soul: "The
time of my departure is at hand"
I remark, again, all those ought to feel
this JOY Of the text who have holy curl
osity to know what is beyond this earthly
terminus. And who has not any curiosity
about it? Paul, suppose, had the most
satisfactory view OF Heaven, and he says:
ut doth not yet appear what We shall be-"
1t is like looking through broken tele-
scope: "Now we see through glass
that heavenly place? You ask me thou
sand questions about it that I cannot
answer. And do you wonder that Paul
was SO glad when martyrdom gave him o
chance to 60 over and make discoveries in
that blessed country?
hope some day, by the grace of God,
to go over and see for myself; but not now.
No we'll man, no prospered man, | think,
wants to go now. But the time will come,
think, when l shall 20 over. l want to
see what they do there, and want to see
how they do it. I do not want to be look
ing through the gates ajar forever. want
them to swing open. There are 10000
things l want explained-about you, about
myself, about the government of this
world, about God, about everything We
start in a plain path of what we know, and
in minute come up against high wall of
what we do not know. l wonder how it
looks over there. Somebody tells me it is
like paved city-paved with gold: and
another man tells me it is like fountain,
and it is like tree, and it is like a tri-
umphal procession, and the next man 1
meet tells me it is all fgurative. l really
want to know after the body is resurrected,
what they wear and what they eat; and l
have an immeasurable curiosity to know
what it is, and how it is, and where it is.
Columbus risked his life to find this conti-
nent, and shall we shudder to go out on a
VOYAGE of discovery which shall reveal q
vaster and more different country? John
Franklin risked his life to find a passage
between icebergs and shall we dread TO find
a passage to eternal summer? Men in
Switzerland travel up the heights of the
Nlatterhorn with alpenstock and guides
and rockets and ropes, and getting half
way ND, stumble and fall down in a horri-
10 how